Sustainability Analysis of Tourism in India: Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

Intherecentpast,understandingandpracticeofsustainabilityintourismarebecomingincreasingly important tobothacademiciansand tourismplanners. In the last twodecades, theattainmentof sustainabledevelopmentandtheprotectionoftouristicassetshavebeenattheforefrontofcentral policyissuesinglobaltourismdevelopment.Inadditiontosocialandeconomicimpactoftourism, overuseofnaturalresourcesandclimatechangeareleadingtotheimportanceofdriveforsustainable tourism development. Consequently, there is a growing research interest in investigating the performanceofcountries,especiallyintermsofenvironmentalefficiency.Inthisarticle,theauthors haveempiricallyexploredsocio-economicefficiencyofthetoptenperformingcountriesandIndia. Theirbasiccontentissummarised,alongwiththemajorfindings.Inthisway,bothmeasurementof countries’performanceandthenonparametricapproachofDEAhavebeengivendeservedattention. Tourismbenchmarkingandtheassessmentoftourismmanagementperformancesareacrucialand challengingtaskinthedirectionofevaluatingtourismsustainabilityandreshapingtourismactivities. Theproposedefficiencyassessmentprocedureisbasedondataenvelopmentanalysis(DEA).DEAis amethodologyforevaluatingtherelativeefficiencywhenfacingmultipleinputandoutput.Although themethodologyisextremelyversatile,forthesakeofexemplification,inthisarticleitisappliedto theevaluationandcomparisonofsustainabletourismmanagementofIndia. KEywoRDS Data Envelopment Analysis, Economic, Efficiency, Environment, Social, Sustainable Tourism